Extricate
by matrixaffiliate
Summary: It's pretty obvious that he's been stood up, and when Lily's plans change, she decides that he could use her company. ModernMuggleAU. A James/Lily fluff story. Rated T. Everything belongs to JKR.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: There's a prompt that I've seen on Tumblr and Pinterest for at least the last five years, and I've always thought, "one day, I'll write it," and then I don't. Well a friend of mine was browsing my writing prompt board on Pinterest and pointed out to me that I have this prompt pinned no less than five times… So I finally sat down and wrote it, and now I can obsess over the theyLived!AU that ThisIsMegz requested I write. Keep an eye out for that one; it'll be a decently long multi-chapter like Cake was. Anyway onto the story! ModernMuggleAU. A James/Lily fluff story. One-shot. Rated T. Everything belongs to JKR.**

Lily watched through the window as he fidgeted at his table, checking his phone every five seconds. He'd been seated for fifteen minutes at a table for two, alone. The waiter had come by three times already and the man had waived him off every time, "she'll be here" was what Lily thought the man said the last time.

Lily was waiting for her best friend, Marlene, to show up and then they'd grab a table and start their girls night, but Lily couldn't help but wonder why anyone would stand up a man as good looking as this one. His ebony hair didn't exactly lie as much as it stood on end in the best way possible. His black rectangle glasses gave him a dignified look, but it was almost canceled out by how his facial expressions were exaggerated in what Lily had to admit was a rather endearing way. She was so busy staring through the window that when her phone buzzed in her hand she almost jumped to the roof.

"Hey, where are you?" Lily answered Marlene's call.

"I'm still stuck here," Marlene groaned, "and the code isn't working. I'm afraid the team is here until we figure out where the breakdown is. This is our biggest client and we absolutely can't have their system down for any longer than it has to be. I'm so sorry Lils!"

Lily tried to hide her disappointment, "It's alright Mar, I totally understand. I've had to cancel on you before too."

"You're already at the restaurant aren't you?" Lily hesitated and Marlene groaned, "Damnit! Lily, I promise I'll make this up to you! I'm so sorry!"

"Honestly, Mar, don't beat yourself up over it. I'll be fine. I'll head home and we can schedule something for next week once you've got things under control at work."

Marlene sighed, "Ok, but I'm paying for next week."

Lily chuckled, "Whatever, get working on your code and let me know how it turns out."

After hanging up, Lily went to head home when she noticed that the man she'd been admiring was still alone and had just sent a very unhappy looking waiter away for what was definitely the fourth time. The man looked at his phone again and hung his head. He looked crushed, and Lily felt awful for him. Before she could think it through, before she could really process what she was doing, Lily walked into the restaurant, smiled at the hostess, and walked purposefully toward the man alone at his table before sitting down in the empty seat.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, love!" She said just loudly enough for the people around them to hear, specifically the waiter. "Work had me completely tied up and I had to fight my way out."

He looked up and Lily almost lost herself in his hazel eyes; that was when the reality of what Lily had done hit her. It wasn't until he looked up that she realized he could not want this, that he could call her for the creep she was being, and in front of the entire restaurant too. But his look immediately brightened at her presence, his smile crooked on his face; Lily hadn't been prepared for the way it would make her heart skip a beat. This man was good looking from afar, but up close he was paralyzing.

"I'm so glad you made it!" His voice was smoother than silk and Lily felt her breathing go shallow. That voice would be the end of her if she couldn't get a grip.

The waiter came over smiling at Lily. "Glad you could join him, Ma'am. Now, what can I get you two?"

They ordered and the waiter happily walked away, promising that their drinks would be out shortly.

Lily sat awkwardly, trying to figure out what to do next. She hadn't really thought this out, probably because if she had she wouldn't have done it.

"So I'm James, James Potter," the man said leaning closer to her, his voice low.

Lily had to focus very hard on staying coherent with him being that close to her and while she knew he was talking low to keep others from overhearing, her mind went places that were definitely far from his intentions. "I'm Lily Evans. I hope I didn't overstep, but I didn't think you wanted to sit here all night alone."

"Helps that I already had the table too, right? You got out of a 45-minute wait." He smirked at her and Lily laughed.

"Yes, I waylaid your date so that I could come and avoid the Friday night rush to get mid-grade Italian."

James beamed at her.

"So Lily Evans, since you've pulled a dinner out of this, we might as well get to know each other."

"I have cash," Lily blanched, "I'll give you my half of the bill if you don't have cash on hand for us to pay it evenly."

James laughed a booming laugh and waved her off. "Don't be ridiculous, you saved me from a rather embarrassing situation by risking an even more embarrassing one, buying dinner is the least I can do to thank you."

Lily blushed furiously, "Well thank you for not calling my bluff to the entire restaurant. I realized a moment too late you could have."

James smirked, leaning close enough for her to feel his body heat, "I'm not in the habit of ruining a good rescue by jumping out of the boat."

Lily laughed nervously and felt her stomach clench.

"So, getting to know each other?" She heard her voice shake and mentally kicked herself. _Get a grip, Lils!_

"Yes!" James nodded enthusiastically, "What do you do for work, Evans?"

Lily smiled at being called by her last name, "I'm a statistical analyst." Then she laughed at the face James made.

"Shit, you're a genius!" He ran his hand into his hair and Lily had to pull her mind away from thinking about how his hair would feel under her fingers.

"Not really," she fidgeted with her hands trying to avoid the way her chest hurt when he looked at her that way - like she was the center of his universe, "Just obsessed with numbers and the patterns they make in the real world." Lily could feel her face burning and desperately wished it wouldn't. "What about you?"

James brought his drink to his lips and Lily forced her eyes to stay on his and not his mouth, "I'm a project manager, I make sure everyone else does their job on time." James' eyes watched her and he seemed to find something amusing by the way his eyes crinkled just slightly but he didn't say anything.

Their drinks and food came just then, and Lily lost the nerve to ask what was funny. But as they ate and talked, everything started coming naturally. She felt incredibly at ease with James, well at ease in the sense of talking, but his physical attraction level just seemed to climb with each passing minute and Lily was sure she was going to die before they made it through dinner. They were having a lot of fun though, laughing together and regaling each other with stories from home, school, university, work, and friends. Lily hadn't had a date this enjoyable in, well ever, and she wondered if the woman who stood him up really understood what she'd missed out on.

The meal finished all too soon and James paid, agreeing she could leave the tip, which was arguably too large but she had felt bad for the waiter. They walked out of the restaurant and things got awkward again. James stood on the sidewalk with his hand fisted in his hair as he tried to sound coherent.

"So, er, I really appreciate you saving me this evening. I think I got the best option in the end really, and er, well, Evans, I mean Lily, er Evans if you prefer I guess, shit, I, well if you, you wouldn't mind, I'd, I'd like to see you again, but if you don't want to I totally get it, and..."

Lily cut off his rambling, trying to look calm while her heart beat so fast she felt lightheaded "I'd love to see you again, James."

James' whole demeanor shifted. He seemed taller, his chest broader, and his smile seemed to lack that bit of a smirk it had pretty frequently throughout dinner. Lily had not been prepared for how that look would make her grow weak in the knees and make her feel fainter than she already did.

"That's, that's great! Fantastic! Could I get your number?"

James handed Lily his unlocked phone and her hands trembled as she texted herself and handed it back to him, his hand lingering on hers for just a moment longer than was actually necessary.

"So I guess I'll hear from you then?" Lily almost cringed at how breathless she sounded.

James grinned at her, "Guaranteed, and thanks again for the rescue. You're my hero tonight." Then he leaned in and kissed her cheek. His lips touched her skin and Lily could have sworn he activated something inside her that she'd never felt before. She was on fire in the best way possible and her whole body cried out for more. James started pulling away but before he could completely step back Lily's hands reached for his face and brought his lips to hers.

James stiffened in surprise a bit before his hands moved to her waist and Lily let her arms snake around his neck as they pulled each other closer. His lips moved over hers and Lily honestly couldn't believe kissing could feel like this. Then his tongue ran along her bottom lip and Lily was honestly surprised she didn't melt to the sidewalk. She barely bit back the moan that threatened to escape her as she parted her lips and James deepened the kiss. But when his hand moved into her hair Lily wouldn't have been able to stop the sigh that escaped her if her life had depended on it.

James pulled back just enough to murmur against her lips, "Could I interest you in dessert?" His voice was that same low tone as before and his eyes had gone dark. Lily's chest was pounding like it might burst and she couldn't even be damned to care how breathless she sounded.

"I could definitely be persuaded," she was surprised at how James looked at her as he rested his forehead against hers, his confidence seemed subdued like he was unsure of what he was about to do.

"Two options," he whispered, "there's an ice cream parlor down the street," then he moved to kiss her jaw and followed it up to her ear, smirking as her breath caught in her chest, "or there's a quart of death by chocolate in my freezer."

Lily smirked up at him as he pulled back for her answer, "I've never been a big fan of chocolate ice cream," James' face fell slightly, "but," Lily continued and his eyes bore into hers, "I suppose it's been long enough for me to give it another shot."

James' lips crashed into her and she could feel his smile against her own. "I reckon I can show you the light to proper ice cream flavors, Evans.


	2. Chapter 2

**Extricate**

 **A/N: poser16 and a few other readers thought this story could use a follow-up, and I caved to peer pressure. ;) Also, a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope and I had to work that into a story somewhere, so here you go. :)**

"Holy shit, Lils! Did you sleep with him?" Marlene exclaimed as she curled a leg under her on Lily's couch.

Lily rolled her eyes, "For the umpteenth time, no!"

"But you just said you went back to his apartment for _'dessert'_!" Marlene put air quotes around dessert.

Lily laughed, "I did. And for the record, I still don't like chocolate ice cream."

Marls shook her head, "Heathen!"

Lily rolled her eyes and Marlene laughed before continuing. "Alright fine, so what did you do if you weren't rolling in the hay?"

"Well, I won't say there wasn't a fair amount of snogging," Lily cursed the blush she felt rising to her cheeks, made all the worse by Marls smug smirk when she noticed. "But we actually talked a lot too!" Lily finished defensively.

"Yeah, I'm sure they were riveting conversations." Marlene smirk grew. "So when did you finally drag your arse home?"

Lily looked down at her glass of rosé, "Well, around eight or so."

" _Eight in the morning?_ " Marls shrieked with laughter, "You mean to tell me you talked with this bloke for over twelve hours straight and you didn't end up sleeping with him?!"

Lily buried her head in her arm, "Yes Marls, that's exactly what I'm saying. And yes, I _know_ how pathetic I am. Look, yes he's fit, and yes he is a phenomenal kisser, but, geez Marlene he's smart and clever, and hilarious, and sweet, and just so genuine, and he's not like any other guy. Don't get me wrong, I definitely thought about sex while we were talking all night, but I guess because he seems different I wanted this to be different."

"You realize you sound like you're thirteen right?" Marlene teased.

"I know!" Lily groaned, "But the fact that this guy has turned me into a romantic must tell you something!"

Marlene put a comforting hand on Lily's thigh, "Alright, alright, I'll lay off a bit. So when are you seeing him again?"

Lily gave her friend a grateful smile, "Tomorrow. He had a project coming closed this week and wanted to make sure he wouldn't need to cancel on me."

"Have you talked at all since then?" Marlene's suspicions echoed in her voice.

"We've texted a ton all week!" Lily replied defensively, and without thinking she unlocked her phone to prove it to Marlene. Marlene was quick to capitalize on Lily's oversight and snatched the unlocked phone from her, browsing through the texts from James while arm barring Lily's attempts to steal her phone back.

"Damn, Lils! This guy is a sap! 'Already miss the way your smile brightened my morning.' Holy shit you responded with a fucking selfie! What the hell, did that date throw your emotional levels back twenty years?!"

Lily finally managed to swipe back her phone and quickly locked it, "Bugger off! I thought it was sweet!"

"When do I get to meet Prince Charming then, huh?" Marlene laughed at the red covering Lily's face.

"Never with the way you're teasing me," Lily gave her a pout for good measure.

"Oh come on Lils, you can't meet Mr. Right and then not let me get to know him!" Marlene downed the rest of her drink and stood to check on the pizza in the oven.

"Who said anything about Mr. Right?" Lily scoffed.

"Whatever. You may be in denial, but mark my words Lils, you see James again, and you'll be starting the path that leads to wedding bells and babies and mortgages." Marlene gave her a pointed look as she set the pizza on the counter.

* * *

Lily would have been lying if she said Marlene's comment didn't bother her. This relationship wasn't even a relationship at this point, why did Marlene have to make her start thinking further down the line than she was even sure she wanted to go?

But as Lily waited for James to pick her up for their second - well first official - date, she couldn't help the kaleidoscope of butterflies that swarmed her stomach. _Breathe, Lils._

The knock on her door startled Lily from her nervous musings, but it was James' smile that started to put her at ease.

"Hi," he leaned in for a chaste kiss that Lily quickly turned into a slightly more heated one, her hands running into his hair, her lips parting in a quiet sigh as his hands pulled her closer.

"Miss me?" He chuckled when they pulled apart.

"How could I?" She tried to recover from the thoughts of pulling James back into her flat and forgetting whatever date he had planned. "We probably sent each other a hundred texts over the last week," Lily smirked at James bashful face.

"Well, I suppose I just have a bit of a hero crush on you. It's not often the guy gets to be rescued." James bumped her shoulder before offering her his hand which Lily accepted as she shut and locked her door.

"I'm not big on being a hero; last week was a special case." Lily smiled up at him, noticing how his other hand was tucked in his pocket, the side of his mouth slightly upturned as they walked down to his car.

"I'll try and make sure there's no need for it tonight then," he winked and Lily couldn't help but laugh.

"Appreciated. So what is the plan tonight for our official first date?"

James tensed a small bit, "Right, wasn't nervous until right then - thanks for that."

Lily bumped his shoulder as he reached for the door to the lot. "Aw, that's so cute."

"You're really making me feel like the damsel here, you know?" James gave her a bit of a pout and Lily had to steady herself against how it made her knees grow weak.

"My sincerest apologies mister macho," Lily tried to put some sarcasm into her answer but it ended up sounding fonder than she'd anticipated. James gave her a crooked smile and opened the passenger side door of his car.

"Anyway, what are we doing this evening?" Lily asked as she tried to recover from the way James' smile had sent her heart racing.

James laughed, "I never ruin a good surprise."

"Oh, come on!" Lily tried to give him her best puppy eyes.

"Don't you like surprises?" James' voice and face became almost childlike in his excitement, and Lily's laugh came bubbling out of its own accord.

"You're ridiculous!"

"Ridiculously crazy for you?" James smiled slyly at her.

"Oh, that was awful!" Lily laughed harder.

"Awfully endearing?" James asked, his smile filling his face.

"You're going to keep going with these aren't you?" Lily tried to sound annoyed but failed miserably.

"If it'll keep a good thing like us going, then I'll do this forever." James winked at her and Lily felt her heart rate increase - again - this man was going to give her a heart attack!

Trying to gain any level of control Lily gave James a sly smile, "Did it hurt?"

James rolled his eyes, "When I fell from heaven?"

Lily could hardly hold back her laughter, "No, when you fell for me?"

James gave her a booming laugh and Lily dissolved into the giggles she'd been holding back.

"Sirius is going to love that one!" James ran a hand into his hair as he tried to keep his eyes open and on the road.

"Sirius? He's your brother right?" Lily's laughter quieting with her curiosity.

"Yeah," his smile took on a mischievous glint to it, "he's a pretty big cynic when it comes to romance, and so that one would be a line he'd be all over."

"I can't take credit for it, my best friend, Marlene if you remember, told me that one. It's her come-back for the heaven set up." Lily smiled fondly.

"Wait, what do you mean her come-back?" James looked over at her confused.

Lily chuckled, "Her come-back - the guy walks up and says 'did it hurt?' Marls looks the guy in the eye and deadpan responds 'when you fell for me?' It's interesting to see the reactions. One poor bloke stared at her for a long moment before he just turned and walked away."

"Poor guy," James laughed. "Your friend sounds like my brother's type."

Lily was about to respond when they pulled into a parking lot for a grocery store and she turned to James confused. "Why are we here?"

"Surprise!" James beamed at her.

Lily returned his smile with a blank stare, "Am I missing something?"

James sighed dramatically, "We're going to buy anything you'd like for a picnic dinner at the park where we'll watch the sunset."

Lily grinned at him, "Sounds perfectly cliché."

"You mean perfectly romantic," he bumped her shoulder and unfastened his seatbelt. "Come on, you may still be wayward in your ice cream flavors, but I'll show you the proper way to set a picnic."

Within a half-an-hour and only a few arguments about what to bring - "Honestly James no one eats olive salad!" "It's called olive tapenade and it's divine! Were you born on Venus? You're lucky you're amazing, I don't know if I could accept not liking chocolate ice cream and olive tapenade otherwise." - they were sprawled on a blanket in a park with far too much food for two people.

The sunset was mostly covered by a thin layer of clouds until the very last rays slipped below the horizon, but James pointed out that it sort of made the sky look like cotton candy, and the argument that ensued about whether cotton candy was a worthwhile dessert was more fun than a sunset anyway.

James was regaling her with a story of pranking Sirius when they reached her door and she fiddled with the lock.

"He was so mad he stole my glasses, hid them, and told me to go looking for them! Mum was furious at both of us when she came home; we were grounded for ages!"

Lily was gripping her stomach laughing as she pushed the door open and tried to ride the laughter through her nerves as she spoke. "I can imagine! Do you want to come in?" She tried to look cool, but she would settle for calm with how hard her heart was beating.

James, however, managed to look casual about it as he smiled and nodded, "Sure, I'd love to."

She pulled some wine from the fridge for them, more to calm her nerves than any real desire for ambiance before settling in next to James on her couch.

"What about you? You've talked a lot about your parents and Marlene, but do you have any siblings?" James had placed his arm around her shoulders as she sat down and Lily silently thanked and cursed the alcohol now coursing through her for where her thoughts were going.

"Just a sister who hates me," She sighed.

"No one could hate you, Evans," James smiled down at her and Lily decided she really didn't want to talk about Petunia right then.

She shrugged, "It's a long story." She set her glass on the coffee table and smiled back at him.

James watched her set the glass down and followed her lead, something that set Lily's heart racing for a new reason.

"Does she look like you?" James asked as his fingers stopped resting on her shoulder and began to run through the ends of her hair.

Lily leaned into him, "No, she has blonde hair and her face is longer than mine."

"I've never really been fond of blondes," James' voice was low, gravely, and his eyes were darker. "If I'm honest, I've always been partial to red-heads."

Lily smirked, "I've always preferred rescuing the tall, dark, and handsome types."

"I'll get you for that," he chuckled, as his free hand wound into her hair. Then his lips found hers, the topic of her sister was long forgotten.

* * *

When Lily's phone rang the next morning, James made good on his promise to get back at her by answering Marlene's call before Lily could wake up enough to get it first.

This man was going to give her a heart attack!

 **A/N: I could be persuaded to keep this going a few more chapters if there's interest. Peer pressure can be a good thing ;) Let me know if you want to see more.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I have caved to the peer pressure! =D You all are too wonderful and so I'll keep this going for a while. If you have requests for things you'd like to see let me know!**

"The beautiful Lily Evans phone, how may I direct your call?" James' voice was low with sleep and Lily was torn between wanting to kill him and wanting to kiss him as he kept her phone out of reach.

"Mr. Right!?" Lily heard Marlene's muffled laughter as she tried to grab her phone back and James smirked at the name.

"James! Give me my phone!" Lily had to hand it to James, he was blocking her pretty well for not having his glasses on.

"In a moment darling, your caller seems to think I'm 'Mr. Right'." James winked at her and Lily groaned. She fell back onto her pillow and pulled the covers over her head, she might as well die in peace.

"Now then," James continued the call, "I'm so sorry to disappoint you Madame, but I am currently involved with another woman and you'll have to find someone new."

Marlene's voice was completely muffled to Lily but her reply must have been snarky because James gave a booming laugh as he responded.

"With pleasure, Madame."

Lily heard Marlene's voice as James put the call on speaker. "Call me when you pull yourselves out of bed and off of each other Lils. I'd tell you to enjoy yourselves but..." Marls cackled.

"Bloody hell," Lily's response was lost under the covers and she heard the call disconnect.

"Mr. Right," James mused, "I could get used to that."

"If you don't mind, I'm trying to die of embarrassment." Lily rolled onto her stomach and shoved her head under her pillow.

James laughed at her and the next thing she knew he was burrowing through the covers and pushed his face under her pillow enough to see her.

"Good morning."

Lily groaned, "No, you answering my best friend's phone call is definitely not a good morning."

James smirked at her and repositioned the pillow as he spoke. "She is quite protective of you, you know? She told me that if I hurt you she'd hunt me down and castrate me."

"And you laughed at her?" Lily gawked at him, James really didn't know Marlene.

James used Lily's surprise to his advantage, pushing her pillow off their heads and pulling the covers down a bit. "Evans, when I was a teenager I dated a girl whose father was in the military. He was very protective of his little girl, and every time I showed up, he had some new weapon out so that I knew what he could do to me. I'm sure Marlene is terrifying, but I don't plan on hurting you and I've already been threatened by most purchasable weapons. Besides, what's life without a bit of risk?"

Lily chuckled, smiling at James as she took a moment to really see him. His chest was bare, while they were at her flat, she pilfered his t-shirt from the day before because if she's honest, Lily is a sucker for that trope. His hair, if possible, was messier, but Lily reminded herself that wasn't entirely due to sleeping on it. And then she found his hazel eyes and she felt her chest warm. There was something about the way he was looking at her that made her breath catch.

"Hey," James voice was low, and he propped himself up on his elbow.

"Hey," Lily knew she sounded breathless, that Marlene would to take the Mickey if she ever mentioned it to her, but Lily couldn't help it.

"I have an idea," James ran his free hand along her bare arm, sending shivers through her body. Lilly nodded him on, not trusting her voice to sound coherent.

"Close your eyes and we can pretend that Marlene's call isn't what woke us up."

Lily knew at that moment she was doomed. James made her feel alive. His voice was silk. His eyes caressed her. His touch was electricity in her veins. How she had lived before him was a mystery, and as she closed her eyes and his lips began to feather her skin, Lily knew she never wanted to live without him.

* * *

Those thoughts kept coming back as they made breakfast in her kitchen, and the reality of them was frightening. Lily barely knew this man, but she was beyond infatuated at this point. She kept reminding herself he would go home at some point today. They'd been on two dates. Two. She had to slow down. Breathe.

"Alright there, Evans?" James' voice brought Lily's internal turmoil up short.

Lily nodded, "Just thinking."

"Heavy stuff by the look on your face," James' expression lost the carefree tint it usually carried. "Willing to share?"

Lily felt her throat constrict and her stomach knot. She should say something. She needed to tell him her feelings were getting the best of her, that she wasn't interested in a fling, all the things she usually tries to get out there on a second date. But Lily doesn't feel anything like her practical self. The number crunching and predictive analysis part of her brain had shut off where James was concerned, and Lily wasn't sure she could function without it.

"Lils?" James took the eggs from the stove and moved to the half set table where Lily stood.

"I'm alright," Lily tried to breathe as James stood in front of her, placing his arms around hers.

"Talk to me," His hazel eyes bore into hers and Lily almost got lost in their depth.

She took a shuddering breath, trying to frame what she wanted to say. "James, I, I'm finding that my, my, that how I feel about you is, well it's stronger than I'm used to - or comfortable with - at this stage. We've been on two dates, and I'm not sure why, but I already have an attachment level of a committed relationship. Which is terrifying, and I, I just don't know how to handle this..."

James pulled her flush against him, and Lily noticed that same look of uncertainty in his features that had been there that first night in front of the restaurant. "What if we resolved a level of your worries and made this a committed relationship?"

Lily's heart froze, and she stared up in disbelief, "You want to make this a committed relationship, after just two dates with me?"

James looked down at her, his eyes searching her face, "Evans, from the moment you sat down at my table I've been captivated. I wouldn't date another woman at this point anyway because I don't want to. You're far too interesting, you know? Why should we wait for a standard amount of time to pass? If it's going to make it easier on you, then I'm up for making this a committed relationship now."

Lily laid her head on his chest, "You are far too wonderful and I'm far too attached to you for this to not bite me in some way in the future."

"Aw, look at my girlfriend calling me wonderful." James teased.

Lily smacked his arm but laughed, "Look at my boyfriend trying to dig an early grave."

"A de-masculinizing threat and a death threat within two hours, I am on a roll!" James let go of her and retrieved the cooked eggs, "But I'm told food can fix almost anything so let's see if that cools your homicidal urgings."

Lily laughed and set the last of the silverware down on the table. "We'll let your cooking decide if you live, yeah?"

James rolled his eyes, "If that's all it takes to stay alive, I'll live to be two hundred."

Lily had to admit, as far as eggs and potatoes were concerned, James was probably right.


	4. Chapter 4

Lily checked her watch as she sat at the table in the pub near James' flat. She was fifteen minutes early, but she couldn't just sit at home freaking out anymore. At least in public, she was forced to keep her freaking out to an internal monologue.

She wanted to do this after James met Marlene - meet his friends - but James had to travel to his company's main headquarters the week after they'd gotten together, and then she was swamped with a new project, and then Marlene's DefCon trip was this week, and it just hadn't timed out.

James had pleaded with her. Sirius and Remus were pestering him to no end about her. Sirius threatened to use his contacts and track her down himself in order to meet her. Lily had forced a laugh and agreed to meet them at their favorite pub for dinner and drinks that Friday. But her gut hadn't untwisted at all since then; if anything it had twisted into a more on complex knot.

The pub door opened and a tall man with hazel eyes and a mess of midnight hair walked in and a part of Lily's brain finally stopped. His smile when he found her made her heart stop and for the first time all day she had a brief reprieve from her nerves.

It only took a few long strides before James plopped down on the chair next to Lily and his lips found hers, his hand tangling in her hair, his heady aroma making her forget for a brief moment that she was here to meet two of the four most important people in James' life.

"How'd you know this was our table?" James smirked at her and Lily laughed.

"I chose this one because I had a good view of the door. So now the question is why the best view of the door is your table?"

James chuckled nervously, his hand going into his hair. "Well, er, it's been our favorite table for a few years, but, er, the day we decided it should be our regular table, it was because, er because we could see if any attractive women walked in."

"He means that we could rate the women as they walked in and decide if any of them were our cup of tea that evening." A man slid up next to them with shaggy black hair and put an arm around her shoulders. "Sirius Black." He answered her unspoken question.

"Lily Evans," she eyed his arm before she met his gray eyes as they studied her.

"Red," he smirked at her as she raised an eyebrow at the nickname. "I want to tell you that this relationship has made _him_ ," he gestured vaguely towards James, "unbearably happy. Honestly, it's sickening." He hushed James' objection, " _And_ if you hurt him and make him go all mopey I'm going to buy a dozen untrained puppies and have them delivered to your flat."

"Sirius..." James' exasperation echoed in his voice.

"It's alright, James." Lily smiled at him. "My best friend threatened to castrate you, so Sirius threatening me with a major inconvenience isn't so bad."

Sirius leered, "Your best friend has spunk, huh?"

"Sirius, no," James started but was cut off by a man who sat next to him with sandy brown hair, blue eyes, and a kind smile.

"That sounds like the start to a great night." The man drawled.

"Trust me on this one Rems, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to pair Sirius with the woman who threatened to castrate me if I hurt Lily." James shook his head.

"Did she really?" There was a glint in Remus' eyes that told Lily he was probably the most devious of the three.

Lily nodded, "My best friend is a bit protective of me." She smiled at James as he firmly removed Sirius' arms from her shoulders and placed his in its place, pulling her closer.

Sirius huffed as he rolled his eyes at them. "She sounds more entertaining than the two of you."

Remus' mischievous glint seemed to twinkle in his eyes and Lily made nervous. He said nothing though.

"Moving on," James ran his free hand into his hair.

"Right-O Jamsie dearest," Sirius smirked. "So, Red, James says you're a masochist."

"Sirius!" James snapped.

Lily laughed and gawked at him, "What?"

"You do maths for a living," Sirius shrugged before winking at James.

It wasn't anything she hadn't heard before. "I'm a statistical analyst, Sirius."

"Don't mind him," Remus smiled warmly at her. "I'm an astrophysicist and he tells everyone I'm an astronaut."

"Or just an ass," Sirius smirked, and then yelped when Remus kicked him under the table.

Lily snickered; she liked Remus.

"What do you do, Sirius?" Lily tried to gain control of her chuckle as he looked murderously at Remus, who smiled warmly back at him.

"I'm a freelance web developer and graphic designer," his eyes didn't leave Remus and Lily looked up at James confused. James rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Is this some sort of staring contest?" She asked.

Remus smirked, "Sirius is trying to catch me unawares and retaliate against my kicking his shins."

That seemed to completely put Lily at ease and she laughed, hard, her nerves disintegrating in its sound. The fact that James' friends were as crazy as she and Marlene were made everything feel familiar.

"I'll buy the first round," she smiled and stood up.

Sirius looked up and grinned, "She passes."

"Put in a few orders for fish and chips too," James kissed her hand. She nodded as she walked to the bar.

The night ended up being one of the more entertaining nights out she'd ever had. The only thing that would have made it better was having Marly there too. Lily made mental note to introduce her to James as soon as possible so they could do just that.

They left the pub around eleven and had ended up at James' flat, where Lily and Sirius had started an intense game of Egyptian Ratscrew. James and Remus had long since abandoned hope of slapping back in, and Lily was sure she and Sirius were going to have bruised hands in the morning. The last few cards went down, their hands both dwindling and when Lily slapped the deck for the win, Sirius howled in frustration and started grabbing cards from the pile to throw at her.

"I take it all back!" He yelled as Lily started throwing cards back at him. "I don't care how many rounds you buy, you don't get to beat me at Egyptian Ratscrew! Dump her James!"

Remus and James were laughing too hard at the spectacle before them to respond, and Lily climbed up off the floor to sit with James. Sirius threw another card that hit her shoulder. Lily flipped him off as a still laughing James wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.

"She's good for you, Sirius." James placed a kiss on Lily's neck and she leaned back into him.

Sirius threw another card at them, "Traitor."

James ran his fingers under Lily's shirt, caressing her sides and she had to bite back a sigh. Remus eyed them amused before he gave a rather theatrical yawn.

"I'm going to head home. I have a graduate student who asked to come to use the observatory tomorrow and I need to be there to open it up for her."

"Oooo is it that punk girl again?" Sirius perked up again.

Remus rolled his eyes, "It's _Miss Tonks_ again, yes."

"She fancies you!" Sirius cackled.

"I'm not having this conversation again." Remus pushed himself off the couch, turning to James and Lily. "It was lovely to meet you, Lily. It's nice to have a few more brain cells around here."

"Oi!" Sirius threw a card at him.

Lily stood and gave Remus a hug, "We'll have to do this again soon, and I'll bring Marlene."

Remus smirked, "I look forward to it."

He gave James a hug before seeing himself out.

Sirius collected all the cards and set them on the coffee table in a haphazard pile. "I'm going to head home too." He winked at Lily, "James is making eyes and I don't want to play witness to what his plans are."

James tossed a pillow at Sirius' head.

"That's hardly a way to treat your wingman." Sirius tutted as he caught the pillow.

Lily gave Sirius a hug, "Thanks for giving me a chance."

"Of course, Red, but keep those puppies firmly in your mind, because I will absolutely follow through."

Lily laughed as he pulled back, "Puppies; got it."

Sirius saw himself out and James seized upon their solitude to run his hands around Lily's waist and place wet kisses along her neck.

"I have never had this sort of thing go well until you. No one else has been this big of a hit with my mates." James' voice vibrated against her skin and Lily allowed the sigh to vocalize this time.

"They're really great James."

"You're really great," he whispered in her ear as he brought his hands into her hair.

Lily slid her hands under his t-shirt, "Now we just need Marlene to love you and I'll breathe easy."

"At the risk of sounding cocky," James brought his lips to hers, kissing her deeply before pulling away to answer, "I'm feeling pretty confident."


	5. Chapter 5

"You're sure you don't know what Marlene has planned?" James asked as he stood behind Lily and kissed her neck.

Lily chuckled, "Please feel free to continue, but no. She told me to order take away and to have everything ready for six."

"Hmmm..." James ran his hands along her sides while Lily pulled the Thai food from the bags and loaded them into the barely warm oven so they'd still be hot when Marlene showed up. "But you told me to come at 5:30. Have I given you a reason to think I'm not punctual?"

"No," Lily spun and linked her arms behind James' neck. "Though there's still time for you to prove me wrong."

James huffed. "Is it so hard to admit that you wanted some time alone with your boyfriend before your best friend offs him?"

"She's not going to kill you," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Love," James drug her lips up her jaw, "the woman threatened to castrate me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die tonight."

"If you really believed that you wouldn't have shown up tonight." Lily backed them up so she could leverage off of the counter.

"Maybe I'm just willing to die for you," James brought his face up to smirk down at her. His hazel eyes danced behind his black-rimmed glasses and Lily burst out laughing.

"You played this whole conversation for that line, didn't you?"

James tickled her sides, "I resent that you think I'd steer an entire conversation to deliver an awful pickup line."

"But you did!" Lily squirmed and squealed as James continued to tickle her mercilessly.

" _If_ I did, would you say it worked?" James pushed up her shirt and renewed his tickling on her bare skin.

"No!" Lily gasped, trying to escape. "I'd say it was corny!" She immediately regretted pushing herself against the counter as James used it to block her attempts at escape.

"I'm sure I could come up with something better," James mused; his face thoughtful but his fingers kept Lily's gales of laughter echoing through her flat. "What about, 'if you were a triangle, you'd be _acute_ one?'"

Lily tried to look horrified but James' tickling made that very difficult, "Please!" She begged. "Please tell me you did NOT Google mathematically themed pickup lines!"

"Oh, is that what you like?" James' smirk was so smug Lily could have slapped him if her hands hadn't been desperately trying to keep his tickling fingers at bay. "Well then I'd like to be your derivative, and lie tangent to your curves."

"That's worse!" She groaned, but Lily knew her laughter and fighting his tickling were encouraging him.

"Are you the square root of two?" His tickling slowed and James moved closer, "Because you make me feel irrational."

"You're ridiculous," Lily managed to pant out as James tickling turned into caressing.

"Your sine must be pi over two because you're the one." His lips kissed her pulse point tenderly as if willing her heartbeat to calm.

Lily gripped the counter behind her, steadying herself as she caught her breath. "Our love," she whispered, "is like dividing by zero. You can't define it."

"See!" James pulled back with a victorious grin, "You can't have a Master's degree in mathematics and not have some perfectly corny pickup lines!"

Lily smirked and started to run her hands along James' biceps, "We're like two 45 degree angles, always right with each other."

James' smirk morphed into a broad grin, "Are you going to trounce me?"

Lily gave him a challenging smirk, "Do you admit that Google is no match for spending six years with math nuts and being one yourself?"

"Give me your favorite and then I'll see if I agree with you." He pulled her into him and Lily chuckled.

"Sex with you is like the square root of negative one, unreal."

James burst out laughing and it progressively got worse until he was doubled over. Lily took the upper hand and started tickling him, getting her revenge for earlier.

"I give!" James gasped as his strong hands closed over hers and pressed them back against the counter.

"I win?" Lily smiled innocently up at him.

"Yeah, you win," James kissed her, moving his hands to her hair, "but only because sex with me is, as you said, ' _unreal_ '."

Lily groaned, "I think you tricked me."

But James' lips quieted her protests, at least until Marlene banged on the door.

"Ah, my executioner has arrived!" James laughed as Lily slipped out from the kitchen and towards the door, placing one last breathy kiss along his neck.

"You must be Mr. Right," Marlene eyed James when Lily released her from a hug.

"Marlene, darling, we've had this discussion. I'm with Lily, and I would really appreciate it if you would move on. I even have a couple of mates I could introduce you to if you'd like." James smirked as Marlene rolled her eyes.

"You had to pick a sassy one, didn't you Lil?" Marlene complained and hung her bag on a hook by the door.

"You'd like his mates," Lily laughed in return, pulling their dinners out of the oven and handing them out. "So what did you have planned, Marls?"

Marlene tossed a Blu-ray case at James, "Fancy a film, Potter?"

James turned the case around and broke into a broad smile, "We'll get along well I think." Then he winked at Marlene.

Lily strode up and pulled the case from his hands. "Oh hell, Marlene! I swear if you quote the movie the whole way through I'm going to put headphones in."

James turned to look at her in horror. "Lily, it's practically sacrilegious to not quote every line of Monty Python and the Holy Grail while watching it! You really have to do it!"

"You too?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't mind her," Marlene snatched the disc back from Lily and started getting it up on the telly. "She secretly loves it and disagrees on principal or something. But if you can really quote the whole thing through, then I think I can give you the McKinnon stamp of approval. Bear in mind that it can and will be revoked if you hurt Lily."

James chuckled as he sat on the couch next to Lily, "I like my chances."

Lily hated it, but she had to laugh at James and Marlene acting out the film while it played on the screen. They even sang along to the Camelot musical number, much to Lily's dismay but only encouraged by her laughter. After the film they argued about the best sketches the group did, and whether the Blancmanges sketch was a stroke of genius or an attempt to see how ridiculous they could be and still get viewership.

It was well past midnight when Marlene finally pulled herself off the couch. "I'm going to head home. We've been running some upgrades through the night for a couple of companies and I've still had to be in the office the next day."

"Well, tomorrow's Saturday so you can have a lie in," Lily gave Marlene a tight hug before releasing her so she could grab her bag.

Marlene smiled, "I'm going to do exactly that." Then she turned to James and gave him a quick hug. "Anyone who can quote the Grail is on my good page. I'm glad to have finally met you, James."

"Thanks, Marlene, we need to do this again!" James grinned as she went towards the door.

"Oh, we will," Marlene gave him a sly smile, "I've got to make sure I don't need to go back to my parents' and bring a pair of sheep shears to the city."

James laughed a booming laugh and Lily rolled her eyes. "Love you too, Marls. Now go home."

Marlene blew a kiss before closing the door and heading down the hallway.

James pulled Lily into his arms and held her for a moment. "I think that went well." He yawned nonchalantly.

"That," Lily pushed up on her toes to kiss him, "is the understatement of the week."

James chuckled, "Nah," he placed light kisses from her lips to her ear and whispered, "The understatement of the week is, and I quote, 'sex with me is _unreal_ '."

Lily smacked the back of James' head as he laughed at her.


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you sure you'll survive an evening without James?" Marlene teased.

Lily rolled her eyes as they walked to the cinema. "Yes, for the thousandth time, I will be just fine."

Marlene laughed, "You're too good for me, Lils. I tease you mercilessly and you just roll your eyes and humor me." She linked her arm with Lily's, "You can't ever stop being my friend." She winked at her and Lily laughed.

"You know I love you, Marls. You'll never get rid of me."

They walked into the cinema and bought their tickets for the new romantic comedy Lily wanted to see, and just when they were next in line at the concessions Lily heard a few familiar voices.

"Red! Darling!"

"Sirius!"

"What? You would have told her you saw her when you guys got together next?"

James groaned.

Lily laughed and turned to see James with his hand in his hair glaring daggers at Sirius while Remus laughed at them.

"Hi, guys!" Lily waved, "Fancy seeing you here!"

James waved sheepishly, "To be fair, you didn't tell me you and Marlene were going to a film."

"So you're tracking Lily?" Marlene teased.

"No!" James groaned.

Lily laughed and ordered their popcorn before pulling Marlene over to where the lads were.

"Marlene, this is Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." She introduced them, "Sirius, Remus, my best friend Marlene McKinnon."

"Oh, you're the fun one!" Sirius smirked.

"Excuse you," Marlene's voice had an edge, but Sirius seemed to take it as some sort of endearment and smiled at her fondly.

"You're the one who threatened to castrate my best mate," he chuckled. "I told Lily and James you sounded like more fun than the two of them."

Marlene seemed to relax a bit and Lily let out an explosive breath.

"Ok there Red?" Sirius gave her a confused look.

"You passed," she shrugged, "I didn't think you would, but she didn't just kill you so you passed."

"Lily, I disown you for giving away trade secrets." Marlene glared at her.

"Nope," Lily laughed linking her arm through Marlene's. "You told me not thirty minutes ago I'm not allowed to stop being your friend, so no, you can't disown me."

Sirius chuckled, "Good to know," and he winked at Marlene.

"Oh, look at the time!" James interrupted quickly. "Our film is going to start soon. We should get going. I'll see you soon, Lil." And he pecked her cheek before grabbing Sirius' arm.

"How long is your film?" Remus asked out of nowhere. James looked like Remus had just pulled a rug out from under him.

Marlene eyed Remus who smiled calmly back after a quick glance at Sirius. "It's a bit more than two hours."

"So is ours, we should grab dinner after, the five of us." Remus walked to join Sirius and James. James eyed him with blatant distrust.

"What do you think Lils?" Marls asked.

Lily sighed, "Why are you making me decide?"

"Because you gave away trade secrets," Marlene shrugged.

"Well then sure," she smiled at James who smiled back but then turned to eye Remus suspiciously.

"Great, we'll meet you out here." Remus chuckled before leading James and Sirius away.

"Do you know what Remus is up to?" Marlene asked as she and Lily headed to the other side of the cinema for their showing.

"You saw that too?" Lils breathed. "I thought I might have been imaging it."

Marlene shook her head, "No, he's got something up his sleeve. I was hoping it was something you were privy to."

Lily shook her head, "I guess we're going to find out."

* * *

"Alright, Remus," Lily smiled sweetly at him as they walked out if the cinema. "What are you up to?"

"See!" James claimed victoriously as he wrapped an arm around Lily's waist. "I'm not crazy! You are up to something!"

Remus rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, "I'm accused of my own friends."

"And acquaintances," Marlene chimed in with a smile.

Remus laughed, "I just thought it would be nice for all of us to get to know one another. James and Lily are hopeless for each other and it'll be easier on them if we can just all hang out together."

"Whatever Remus is up to," Sirius cut in, "can we discuss it over dinner? I'm positively famished!" And he doubled over groaning and holding his stomach.

"Fine," James gave in. "How does Greek food sound?"

"Honestly anything edible sounds good, so let's just go." Sirius groaned before turning on his heels and heading, presumably, to the Greek place James had been suggesting.

As suspicious as Lily was, she had to admit that Remus' idea to hang out altogether had been a stroke of genius. Marlene just fit and all of the sudden they felt like a group of friends who'd always known each other and had managed to stay friends for years.

They ended up back at James' place, sharing cartons of ice cream they'd bought on their way there and laughing about embarrassing stories they had about each other.

It was late when Marlene's phone went off and she groaned when she checked it.

"What's up?" Sirius tried to grab her phone away, but Marls wasn't born yesterday.

"Paws off Black," She dug the last chocolate chunk out of one of the death by chocolate cartons. "And to answer your question, my work decided it would be a great idea to let our web developer go because they have a whole software engineering department. I told them we couldn't handle that, most of us haven't done CSS since undergrad! But they didn't listen to me! They let him go yesterday and they just dropped the damn website in my team's lap! We don't have time for this!" Marlene shoved her spoon maliciously into the carton of cherry amaretto ice cream.

Lily stood and gave Marlene a hug, "I'm sorry Marls."

Marlene huffed, "It's not your fault I work with a bunch of idiots who know _fucking nothing_ about the technology they provide! I'm positive some of the higher-ups think that there's only one coding language."

Sirius scoffed, "Right, because object-oriented programming and scripting are just wizard terms to keep intelligent business blokes from making more money."

"Exactly!" Marlene grabbed his hand, "One of these days I'm going to throw the group of them off a bridge somewhere!"

"Hey, I've got an idea," Sirius' eyes lit up. "I'm a web developer. Show me the site; let me get an idea of what it is and what I'd charge to be contracted with it. Then you go to your boss and tell him that you'll need funding for this extra project because of man-hours. Then you can contract me to take care of it with that funding. It's off your shoulders, and I get another site to manage out of it. We all win!"

Marlene looked like she could have kissed him. "That's the best idea I've heard all week!" She stood and pulled Sirius up with her. "Come on, if I can getting that email off before tomorrow I'll have a better chance of getting you your top price. My boss only half reads emails over the weekend; makes it so much easier to push stuff through."

"Let's go, I'll add an extra percentage for having to work with a friend. It's one of my rules I try not to break." Sirius winked at her and Marlene laughed at him.

"Thanks for a great night, everyone!" Marlene gave Lily a hug, "Wish me luck, this is the biggest fast one I've ever tried to pull."

"You've got Sirius," James put a comforting arm around Marls' shoulders, "He's a top-notch prankster, this is child's play."

Sirius winked at him as he released Remus from a hug, "Got to keep in practice somehow, mate."

Sirius and Marlene were out the door, and Remus suddenly started to tidy up the ice cream cartons and spoons, whistling happily to himself.

"You're smug!" James exclaimed whipping around.

"I have no idea what you're on about James. I was thinking about how much I prefer my work to all of yours and it brightened my mood considerably." He gave James a withering sigh, "You just don't trust me."

"Bollocks, Remus," James laughed. "Our best pranks at school were always your idea! You're more trouble than any of us!"

Remus huffed and turned to Lily, "I am so misunderstood." He gave a melodramatic sigh and Lily laughed at him.

"Marlene and I think you're up to something too so don't turn to me for pity."

Remus shrugged his shoulders and gave them each a hug, "Then I'll bid you both a good night and seek solace in the glories of outer space."

"That's a really roundabout way to say that you open the observatory tomorrow," James rolled his eyes.

Remus chuckled and nodded before grabbing his phone and sliding it into his pocket. "I'll see you both soon."

Once he was gone, Lily pulled James close. "What do you think he was up to?"

"I don't know," James ran his hands along her sides as he thought about it, "But I do know that whatever it was, it went well. Remus only whistles when he feels like a plan has gone better than he hoped."

Lily laid her head on James' chest and sighed when he moved a hand to run through her hair. "Well, I think tonight went fabulously. So whatever it was, I'm guessing it was a good thing."

James chuckled and pulled them down to his couch, keeping Lily wrapped in his arms. "Yeah, I suppose whatever he did, it was good."


	7. Chapter 7

Sirius opened the door to his flat mere inches before quickly ushering Lily inside. James and Marlene were already sitting on the couch and as Lily joined them, Sirius frantically checked his windows.

"Sirius?" James groaned, "Can we please have it out already?"

Sirius hushed him before checking the door one more time. "Please don't turn over the sofa again," Marlene rolled her eyes, but Sirius took no notice as his eyes scanned the room.

"I think we're safe. I've gone over the entire flat and I can't find anything. Now if you'll all turn off your phones, I'll clue you in." Sirius sat down on an old armchair and turned off his phone, setting it on the coffee table.

"Turn off our phones?" Lily stared at him incredulously.

Sirius nodded and Lily turned to James and Marlene. "Are we doing this?"

James set his phone on the table as the screen went black. "Lils, I've been friends with Sirius for decades now, I just sort of roll with a lot of things at this point."

Marlene looked at Sirius who held her gaze. Lily noticed something pass between them, only because she'd known Marlene for so long, but the moment passed as Marlene turned back to Lily.

"It won't hurt anything to have them off for a few minutes." She set her phone down on the coffee table as it powered down.

Lily rolled her eyes, "You're ridiculous, Black," but she turned off her phone and set it on the table with the others.

Sirius seemed to relax a bit and leaned forward in his chair.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you here today. I won't make you wonder longer. My friends, we have become victims to a ruse!"

"Out with it, Black," Marlene crossed her arms.

Sirius huffed but complied, "Last night I asked Remus if he wanted to catch the new shark movie, he's always had a soft spot for monster films, and he told me he couldn't because he was opening the observatory in the morning and wanted to actually be awake in the morning. I ended up with an early call this morning for one of my sites and thought I'd go bug Rems. I showed up to the observatory and much to my surprise, Rems was nowhere to be found. The woman who was there informed me that Remus hasn't opened the observatory in the morning once this year. And I bought Remus coffee! I paid for his favorite coffee and the man was nowhere to be found!"

Lily bit her cheek to try and keep from laughing but Marlene didn't seem to care and laughed out loud. "You're more hung up about the wasted three quid than Remus lying to you!"

Sirius started to respond but James cut him off. "Remus isn't opening the observatory, so what is he doing? Did you check on his flat when you left the observatory?"

Sirius turned his attention away from the girls and focused on James. "I did and his curtains were drawn and it was really quiet at his door too."

"Wait," Lily interrupted, "you just listened at the door? You didn't knock to see if he was home?"

Sirius stared at her dumbfounded. "Why in the hell would I do that?"

"Because it's the fucking normal thing to do!" Marlene burst out.

James shook his head, "Not with Remus. We've found ourselves in the middle of a plan created by one of the best pranksters in London." James looked furtively around at the walls of the flat, "You're sure you checked everywhere Sirius? He'd expect us to turn off our phones."

Sirius nodded, "I went over everything, if he's bugged the place it's somewhere no one would find it."

James scooted forward to the edge of the couch, "Do you have a plan?"

Sirius mirrored his position and Lily marveled at how all of the sudden these two men were thirteen again. "I don't, that's why I called for backup. We're out brained, but maybe if we outnumber him we'll stand a chance."

"Out brained my arse," Marlene cut in and the lads seemed to suddenly remember the girls were there. "Lily's just as much of a nerd as Remus, the two of you grew up with the man and know him better than anyone I'd wager, and I'm a fucking genius. If anything, he should be the one worried, not the two of you."

Sirius and James turned the idea over in their minds and Lily could practically see their gears turning.

"He wouldn't expect us to include the girls," James started.

Sirius nodded, "I hadn't planned to but Marlene figured out something was up."

Lily looked over at Marlene who pointedly avoided her gaze.

"So, maybe Marlene is right. Maybe this time we stand a chance." James' smile was boyish in his excitement.

Sirius jumped up, "Hell yeah we do! What's our plan?"

Lily laughed at the two of them, "Well, first let's move this mafia meeting to Marlene's flat. Remus doesn't know where it is and he won't suspect anything if he randomly shows up here."

James looked like he could kiss her. "Where have you been all my life?"

"Keeping her nose stuck in a math book," Marlene grabbed her phone and stood. "Come on, everyone, let's go plan our coup d'état."

Sirius stared at her with a look Lily could only describe as dazzled, "parles-tu français?"

Marlene winked at him, a small smile playing across her lips, and Lily made a mental note to have a girls' night, tonight preferably.

* * *

The four of them sat around Marlene's table, kebab pizza set in the center.

"Alright, does everyone know their part?" James asked.

"I think we're all set, love." Lily chuckled, she hadn't had this much fun in, well ever.

Sirius leaned back in his chair, "If this works, the two of you will have earned your spots as Marauders."

"As what?" Marlene laughed at him.

"The greatest pranksters to have ever lived!" Sirius' hand grabbed his chest.

James chuckled, "It was the name we gave ourselves in school. We used it as a way to credit the pranks we pulled. We had code names too." James' eyes had a nostalgic twinkle.

"Nicknames, huh?" Marlene smirked. "What did you come up with?"

"Well, Remus was Moony because he wanted to be an astronaut and go to the moon." Sirius chuckled. "I ended up with Padfoot."

"What?" Lily laughed.

"He was the sneakiest of all of us; we teased him that he had padded feet." James smiled as he took another slice of pizza.

"So what's your nickname?" Lily leaned close to James.

"Prongs," Sirius chuckled.

"Prawns?" Lily looked at James confused while Marlene tried not to choke on her pizza as she laughed.

James sighed, "No, prongs - p-r-o-n-g-s - my dad was in the military so I used a lot of the terms as a kid. A prong is each part of an attack. I was really good at organizing the pranks we pulled."

"Are you going to give us names?" Lily laughed.

"Only if you really want one," James smirked.

"I already gave you one, Red!" Sirius look offended and Lily laughed.

"I've had worse I suppose."

"Don't even think about it," Marlene eyed Sirius as he turned to her.

"I'm sure I can think of something you'd approve of, Marls," Sirius smirked.

Lily spun towards Marlene at the sound of Sirius using her shortened name; Marlene's dad was the only man who'd ever got away with calling her 'Marls' as far as Like knew. Marlene, however, completely ignored Lily.

"Be warned, I'm not known for being forgiving." She smirked back at him.

"I'm not known for being cautious," Sirius winked at her.

James groaned and stood, "Come on, Lily. I really don't want to watch Marlene kill Sirius."

"I'm not going to kill Sirius, James." Marlene rolled her eyes.

James stared at her, "That's worse."

Lily stood and grabbed James hand. "We all have work to do, so let's get to it."

That seemed to break the tension and everyone started cleaning up. Lily definitely needed a girls' night with Marlene, but James' comment told her she needed some time to talk with her boyfriend first.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So much plot lately... We need more fluff! But there's still a little plot because I may have OCD or maybe just perfectionist issues when I write these long ones.**

 **A/N: Oh! And I'm on AO3 and Tumblr now (username is matrixaffiliate, just like here)! If you prefer AO3 then go ahead and jump over there, all my stories are up there now and I'm updating them there and everything. And come say hi on Tumblr if you're over there! I'll be posting drabbles on there when I find prompts I like** **or someone sends requests/prompts** **. =D**

"Did you get Remus' schedule?" Lily asked as they sat down on a bench partially obscured by trees near the observatory.

Marlene nodded, "Yep, and the lady Sirius spoke to wasn't lying, Remus doesn't open the observatory at all this term."

"Did you have to hack into the school's network?" Lily asked as she took the paper Marlene had copied Remus' schedule down on.

"Good grief, no," Marlene groaned. "His schedule is posted on his university webpage so that his students know where and when to find him."

Lily chuckled, "But it would have been more fun to hack the university."

"Also illegal," Marlene countered and Lily laughed.

"Ok, so we have about" she checked her watch, "fifteen minutes before we'll see Remus, why don't you use that time constructively and tell me what's going on with you and Sirius?"

Marlene shrugged, "Nothing, he's handling my company's website now."

Lily's eyes narrowed and she shook her head, "No, the Marls I know doesn't let a guy tease her the way Sirius teases you. And she definitely doesn't let any guy call her Marls. Only your dad does as far as I know."

Marlene shook her head, "Lots of guys call me Marls besides my dad. Most of my guy cousins do, both my grandfathers and some of the old shopkeepers up in Scotland."

Lily scrunched her face up in frustration, "Fine every old man and family member does, but Sirius apparently does too. That's not normal for you."

Marlene sighed, her eyes scanning the grounds for Remus. "So maybe I think of him as the older brother I never had."

"Older brother my arse," Lily huffed. "You're attracted to him!"

"I find a lot of men physically attractive," Marlene pushed back into the bench and folded her arms over her chest.

"But Sirius is different!" Lily almost shouted in frustration.

Marlene hushed her with a glare, "What is your problem?"

"I'd ask the same of you!" Lily returned her glare. "I'm your best friend! Why can't you admit to me that you fancy him? Because he obviously fancies you! James is sure he does!"

It was the slightest change in her posture that caught Lily's attention, Marlene had a split second where she moved towards Lily with a small fire of hope burning in her eyes, but it was gone almost as soon as Lily noticed it.

"Well," Marlene shrugged, pulling her arms tightly around her, "if he decides to do something about fancying me, then maybe I'll consider if I could fancy him past him being fit."

Lily was about to retort when she spotted Remus and clammed up, discreetly pointing him out to Marlene. They watched in silence as Remus walked up to the observatory. He stopped, smiling to greet and open the door for a woman with bubblegum pink hair, following her inside and letting the door shut behind them.

* * *

"She wouldn't admit to anything," Lily groaned as she curled into James on her couch. "She was all cold and badass about the whole thing and then Remus showed up."

"Did he do anything out of the ordinary?" James interrupted.

"No," Lily sighed. "Perfect gentleman even opened the door for a lady going into the observatory too."

James huffed, "What is he hiding from us?!"

"I don't know, but I do know that my best friend is trying and failing to hide that she fancies Sirius, and doesn't even have the decency to talk to me about it!" Lily wrapped her arms around her stomach.

"Hey," James seemed to suddenly realize she was upset. "Maybe she isn't ready right now is all. I'm sure it isn't because she doesn't trust you or something horrible like that."

Lily sighed, "I know. I just, I'm always so open with her and it hurts that she isn't that way with me right now."

James pulled her closer and ran his fingers through her hair, "I have an idea, but it's going to require some of the best prankster's skills we can muster."

"I'm not pranking Marlene," Lily rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from James.

"We're not pranking her; we're just going to create opportunity." The smirk that played on James' lips was too much for Lily, the way it made his dimples crinkle and defined his jaw and lit up his hazel eyes, and the next thing she knew she pushed up off the couch and captured his lips with hers, wrapping her arms around his neck.

James laughed but readily kissed her back. After several moments he pulled back just slightly, "Is that a yes, or...?"

Lily kissed him briefly, "What's your plan?"

James smirked at her and Lily fought to stay focused, "I feel like I'm being undressed with your eyes."

Lily shoved him, "Get on with it, Prongs, or there will be no undressing of any sort."

James' eyes darkened and he leaned in closer to Lily, "Say that again, Evans."

"Say what?" Lily licked her lips, pulling her bottom lip into her teeth as she stared up at him.

"Say my codename again," he whispered in her ear before placing breathy kisses on her neck.

"Do you like it when I call you that?" Lily's voice was smug.

"Why don't you give it a go and decide for yourself?" His voice was husky and deep and reverberated against her skin making her breath catch.

"Prongs," she whispered.

James' hands pulled her closer and pushed up under her shirt as his mouth found her pulse point. Lily moaned and ran her hands into James' hair as his hands roamed her curves. His lips worked their way back to her mouth and his kiss was hot and strong against her as his tongue pressed into her. It was a mess of hands and lips and moans until, in their fervor, they fell off the couch.

The couple burst into laughter as they attempted to untangle themselves from the knot they'd landed in.

"You alright?" James gasped as he tried to catch his breath and calm his laughter.

Lily nodded as she pulled her legs under her to sit cross-legged. "I now have a way to get you to ravish me whenever I want, I'm fantastic!"

James laughed a booming laugh, "With great power comes great responsibility, Evans."

"I promise I'll use it wisely," Lily winked at him. "So what was your brilliant plan before you interrupted yourself with snogging me?"

"Excuse you," James laughed, " I believe that _you_ interrupted _me_ by snogging me first!"

"Semantics," Lily waved him off. "What's the plan?"

James chuckled, "I just thought that whenever we set up times to watch Remus, we just make Sirius and Marlene do it together. You and I will always be conveniently busy, so they'll have no choice but to spend a ton of time together - alone." He wriggled his eyebrows at her and Lily laughed.

"I like it, but mostly because it means you and I will have no choice but to spend a ton of extra time together," She slowly moved from her spot on the floor to sitting on his lap, " _alone_."

James grinned and his hands found her hips, gripping them tightly. "What on Earth will we do with all that extra time together?"

Lily smirked up at him, "I'm sure we can think of something, _Prongs_."

James wasted no time in renewing their activities from the couch, and this time, there was nothing to fall from.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: don't worry Fugacity (and anyone else who wants me to just wrap this all up). You're almost there...not quite...but almost. ;)**

Lily readjusted the hat on her head to better hide her bun while James pulled the hood of his sweatshirt further over his hair.

"How I became a conniving member of a secret friendship group that spies on each other I will never know." She whispered as they stood behind a tree across the street from Remus' building.

James scoffed, "We are not spying!"

"And what would you call this?" Lily gestured to them and the tree behind which they hid.

"Getting to the bottom of a lie that's been going on for months," James winked at her.

Lily shook her head, "You could justify yourself out of anything couldn't you?"

James chuckled and looked around the tree to the parking lot, "Of course I could, it's the fact that I don't that makes me admirable."

"And not in prison," Lily chuckled at the face James made.

"Your faith in me is overwhelming, Evans" he turned and pouted.

Lily patted his cheek, "I'm just trying to keep your over large ego in check, Potter."

"I do not have an overlarge ego," James huffed and Lily raised her eyebrows at him, "Just an above average ego." He smirked at her.

"You're impossible!" She smacked his arm.

"Really? I had no idea!"

"Really," she crossed her arms attempting to look agitated.

"Ah, but you're still here," James uncrossed her arms and brought his lips to her cheek.

"I suppose I am," Lily sighed and smiled up at him.

James opened his mouth to say more before his jaw dropped and he pulled them behind the tree. Quickly he threw on his sunglasses and peered with Lily at the scene across the street.

"You look ridiculous wearing sunglasses this late in the evening," Lily whispered as she leaned cautiously around the tree to see what was happening.

James hushed her as they watched Remus step out of his car before walking to the other side and opening the door for a woman; a woman with bubblegum pink hair and a winning smile; the same woman, Lily realized, she'd seen him open the door for at the observatory.

Remus wrapped his arm around the woman's waist and she looked up to smile at him before cupping the back of his neck and pulling him down to kiss her. Remus slowly pulled back and brushed a hand over her cheek before leading them into his building.

Lily and James simultaneously let out explosive breaths and then laughed at each other. James grabbed her hand and started walking quickly to his car.

"It's Punk-girl!" He finally spoke when they were a few yards down the street. "He's seeing Punk-girl!"

"She was at the observatory!" Lily picked up her pace to keep up with James' long strides. "Is she someone you guys know?"

James tilted his head, "Sort of. Sirius and I had lunch with Remus on campus a while back and she stopped by the table we were sitting at to tell Remus she enjoyed his department presentation from the night before."

"Wait!" Lily exclaimed as they reached James' car. "The night I first met him and Sirius, Remus said he needed to open the observatory for her the next morning!" She paused as they climbed into the car. "I remember Sirius calling her Punk-girl, but I don't remember what Remus said her name was."

James pulled out his mobile, "I don't either but text Marlene and tell her to meet us at Sirius'. We have plans to make!"

"Are you letting Sirius know we're on our way?" Lily asked as she opened her text thread with Marlene.

James nodded before throwing his cell in Lily's lap and starting the car. "I told him to order food too. I was going to take you to dinner tonight, but we have mischief to manage." And he winked at her.

Lily giggled as she set her phone down. "I've never had this much fun!"

James grinned, "You should have gone to school with us. We had this sort of fun all the time."

"I don't know if we would have gotten on in school," Lily chuckled, "Marlene will tell you I wasn't always so easy going."

James smirked, "But I would bet you've always been as gorgeous."

"Maybe one day I'll find some old pictures and let you decide." Lily rested her hand on James' leg and laughed when he beamed at her.

"I would absolutely love that," he moved his hand off the gear lever for a moment to squeeze hers before maneuvering into a parking spot at Sirius' building.

"Has Marlene told you how far out she is?" James asked as Lily handed him back his mobile and they climbed out.

Lily frowned looking at the screen, "No, which is kind of weird because she's usually pretty prompt in her responses."

James' brow creased as he looked down at his mobile. "No response from Sirius either, normally by now he's teasing me about some outlandish concoction he's going to make instead of just ordering out."

The couple shared a confused look before Lily grabbed James' hand and headed for Sirius' door.

When they knocked and there was no response.

James called Sirius and it rang to voicemail.

Lily called Marlene and it went _straight_ to voicemail.

"Well," James began as they stood looking at Sirius' door. "There are a few plausible explanations here; they could be in custody, they could be murdered, they could have both lost their mobiles."

"Or," Lily grinned up at him, "Our tactics worked and they're both preoccupied with each other."

"That's a much cheerier thought," James chuckled before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his key ring. "Let's find out, shall we?"

"You have a key?" Lily tilted her head as James undid the lock.

"He has one to mine as well," James nodded pushing open the door.

Lily burst out laughing at the trail of clothing that started at the sofa and scattered a path to Sirius' bedroom. And she laughed harder when she saw a shirt she had lent to Marlene near the coffee table.

"Well, they definitely aren't dead." Lily clutched her side and tried to calm her laughter.

"We should order food, they'll need sustenance when they finish." James winked at her and Lily's laughter returned full force.

She must have laughed loud enough to get the attention of the couple in the bedroom because Lily's mobile began to ring and she smiled at Marlene's contact picture.

"You really don't need to stop on our account, Marls. We'll get food here and wait till you two are ready." Lily smirked as she heard Marlene's voice both over the receiver and through the wall.

"I would like you to know I'm going to fucking kill the both of you!"

What wouldn't Lily have given to just see Marlene's face as she said that?

"So, pizza then? I'm kind of feeling Vietnamese but if you're going to kill me I've always said my last meal should be pizza." James yelled through the wall and Lily heard Sirius' laugh echo through the receiver.

"Get Vietnamese, Prongs. You know my order," then Lily heard rustling and Marlene shout in protest.

"Talk soon, Red," Sirius was much closer to the speaker this time and then the call disconnected.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Saturday is going to be an absolutely INSANE day for me, so your update comes on Friday this week. We'll go back to Saturdays next week. I hope you don't mind the update a few hours early. ;)**

 **A/N: This story arc has almost wrapped itself up. If you want the story to have another arc to it give me your ideas, otherwise this story has two more chapters (maybe three) and we'll move on to something new. :) I wrote a Jily drabble on Tumblr that's been nagging at me to become more…**

Lily and Marlene waited casually near the observatory door. James and Sirius had just grabbed Remus from his office for lunch - off campus - and the two friends were now staking out the observatory.

In a rather dramatic display the day before, Sirius had thrown his mobile across the room in faux frustration and demanded everyone let him look at their phones so he could decide what to replace his with. Remus begrudgingly handed over his phone, and with a bit of luck, Sirius had discovered that Punk-girl had a proper name, Dora Tonks. Her last text to Remus informed him she would be at the observatory the next morning. (Sirius later bemoaned that he had obviously picked the best cell phone of their entire group.)

And so today, plan A went into effect. With Remus off campus, the ladies were responsible for getting Dora Tonks on board, without messing anything up for her and Remus in the process. Lily was just grateful this stakeout didn't require hiding her appearance - her head had hurt from that tight bun into the next day.

"Here she comes," Marlene bumped Lily's arm and she turned to see Dora Tonks walking away from the observatory door.

The two met her just as she made it to the pavement.

"I beg your pardon," Marlene stepped up to her, "But would happen to know where Dr. Lupin's office is? I'm afraid we're a bit turned around."

The pink haired woman nodded politely, "I do. Do you need help getting there?"

"Oh, that would be wonderful!" Lily smiled warmly. "Thank you!"

"It's no problem; I was going to head that direction anyway." She smiled and Lily thought she knew exactly what pulled Remus to this young woman. Her smile lit up her face in a way that was enchanting.

They walked quietly for a moment before Dora spoke, "If you don't mind my asking, are you professors from another university?"

Marlene bit back her laugh. "No, we're just friends paying a visit."

The pink haired woman slowed, "Oh."

"Is something the matter?" Lily saw how the woman's smile had faded, a look of... concern perhaps, Lily wasn't sure...replacing it.

"Oh, no, nothing at all, I'll just show you to his office then." She picked up the pace and entered one of the faded brick buildings.

"I didn't catch your name," Lily smiled encouragingly, thrown off by Dora's sudden change in manner. Coldness? Was that what this was?

"I go by Tonks," she didn't look back as she led them up the stairs.

"Thank you again, Tonks," Lily grabbed the door as Tonks opened it. "I'm Lily, and this is Marlene." She gestured to Marlene as she walked past her and through the door.

"Charmed," Tonks pulled out her phone and began typing.

"Well it was nice to meet you both," Tonks stopped in front of Remus' door. "I'll be off now."

"Tonks," Marlene placed a light hand on her shoulder and Tonks hesitated before turning to look at her.

"I promise you'd have more fun with our group."

"I, I beg your pardon?" Tonks' face was slowly turning red, and her eyes widened.

Lily stood stunned. This was not the plan! What was Marlene doing?!

"We know," Marlene continued. "And we know he thought it was best to keep it from Sirius and James. Trust me, I can't fault him there. But they know now, so why continue to hide it?"

Lily was about ready to gag Marlene and try to talk her way out of it all, but Tonks spoke before Lily could think of a plausible story - or any story other than Marlene being a raving total lunatic.

"It's been sort of fun, hiding it this long," Tonks chuckled, a shy smile creeping onto her face. "But, well if Sirius and James already know, then I suppose there's no point in it now."

Lily felt like she might faint. Going from a set plan to Marlene turning everything on its head and it not blowing up in their faces was more than her poor heart could take.

Marlene dropped her hand and nodded, "Did you send the text?"

Tonks chuckled, "Saw that, did you? No, I haven't sent it. I'll guess Remus isn't here seeing as he hasn't come out to yell at the two of you."

Marlene relaxed visibly, "You're right, he's out to lunch with the lads. Let us take you to lunch. Maybe we can convince you of a better way to let Remus know that your secret is out than that composed text."

Tonks seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I'm always up for someone else buying my lunch." She smirked at them.

The three women laughed as they walked back down the stairs.

Lunch was a fun affair, and Lily realized that this wonderful woman belonged in their group. She was a bit put out with Remus for hiding her for so long actually.

"I have to ask," Lily popped a chip in her mouth, "Why did you two hide your relationship from James and Sirius?"

Tonks sighed, "Remus told me he wanted a bit of time to have me to himself. We haven't been hiding it from the University so it wasn't really a secret. We'd been talking about bringing me around but then," she paused and looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, then James met you and Remus decided that if he could get Sirius focused on a woman as well he'd buy us another few months."

Lily and Marlene burst out laughing, "So that's what he was up to the night at the cinema!" Marlene took a sip of her drink.

"Can I ask if it worked?" Tonks sniggered.

Lily watched Marlene gain control of the blush that just tinted her cheeks and bit her tongue to keep from laughing.

"Sirius and I are going to see where things go," Marlene shrugged nonchalantly.

"Frequently," Lily chimed in and laughed when Marlene glared at her.

Tonks gave a booming laugh. "I'm glad. Remus kept saying the two of you were quite the pair." She checked her watch and sighed.

"I have a meeting in twenty minutes. This has been so much fun, but I need to get going. You'll text me when you have a time set?"

Lily nodded, "And we'll wait for your confirmation before we start setting plans in motion."

"This is almost as much fun as hiding it from all of you," Tonks winked at them as they started for the exit.

"Hopefully you'll like hanging out with all of us too." Marlene bumped her shoulder.

The three women laughed and as they started the walk back to campus, Lily felt like their little group was almost complete.

Tonks parted ways with them and Marlene and Lily walked down the street and climbed into Lily's car.

"You owe me a drink," Lily tossed her phone in Marlene's lap before pushing in the clutch.

"Why now?" Marlene laughed and pulled down the visor mirror to look at her reflection.

"Because you gave me a heart attack when you threw the plan out the damned window!" Lily pulled out onto the street.

Marlene rolled her eyes, "I saw her open her texts to Remus, I didn't have a chance to pull you aside and explain now did I? Besides, it all worked out in the end. Just consider the increased heart rate your cardio for the day."

Lily laughed in spite of her irritation. "Remus is right; you and Sirius are quite the pair."

"Sure," Marlene rolled her eyes, "And you and James are the fucking match made in heaven."

Lily knew Marlene was being her usual sarcastic self, but Lily sort of liked the idea of her and James being a match made in heaven - or at the very least quite the pair themselves.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: One more chapter after this, friends. :)**

Lily looked around the living room of James' flat and chuckled. She would have thought this immature and pathetic five years ago, but sitting on the couch watching James standing near the window as he flipped through the papers on his clipboard made her think about how fun this whole process had been; how it had brought a level of excitement to her life that hadn't been there before, and how it had brought the best of friends to her and Marlene, along with the best man she'd ever known.

"Keep staring and you'll burn a hole in him." Marlene walked in the door, not having bothered to knock, Sirius stepped in behind her.

"Burnt flesh, now that would be a pain in the arse to clean out of the carpet," Sirius laughed as he fell into the armchair, simultaneously pulling Marlene down onto his lap.

"I happen to like being ogled," James winked at her.

Lily rolled her eyes; "Anyway," she turned to Marlene, "is everything ready with Tonks?"

Marlene nodded as she readjusted in Sirius' arms. "We walked her up here, so she knows where it is. She's heading to that coffee shop at the end of the street. I'll text her once Remus is here and she'll come wait at the door until we're ready."

Lily grinned, "Are we evil?"

Sirius scoffed, "The man hid a rather amazing addition to his life from his dearest friends; if anything were being merciful."

"Amazing, eh?" James chuckled. "I'm jealous that you met her first driving over here. I've only seen her."

"Well assuming Remus doesn't write us all off you'll have time to get to know her." Lily chuckled.

James nodded and set his clipboard on the end table falling onto the couch and pulling Lily to him. "T-minus 5 minutes to Remus; are we ready?"

"Pizza will get here in thirty minutes," Lily checked her phone and the flashing red line across the screen of the app.

"Tonks is down the road and ready to go." Sirius nodded.

"You have the fake girls?" Marlene smiled at James who rolled his eyes at her.

"I have the fake profiles, yes." Then he pointed at them, "But, you two are a horrible pair."

"You're jealous, Prongs." Sirius nipped at Marlene's ear and she swatted him away with a wink.

James pulled Lily closer and buried a kiss on her hair, "Hardly." And the promise of later in his voice made Lily's breath catch.

"Moving on," Marlene covered Sirius' mouth as he opened it to retort. "Before the two of you make it so neither woman in this room wants anything to do with the two of you." He bit playfully on Marlene's fingers and Lily laughed. James seemed to have not heard Marlene's comment or had chosen specifically to ignore it, as his hand worked its way under her t-shirt and his fingers started tracing patterns along her waist.

Just as Lily was going to speak, a knock came at the door.

"Come on in Rems!" Sirius called out. Marlene hit send and winked at Lily.

Remus walked through the door and smiled at the two couples curled up in their seats.

"I feel like the proud father coming home to his kids all grown up."

Lily bit back her smirk; he couldn't have played into their hand better if someone had scripted it.

"You know," Sirius drawled, "What about a mum? If you're the father, we definitely need a mum."

Remus rolled his eyes and plopped down on the couch with James and Lily. "I don't have time to go chasing after women right now, Pads."

"Oh but I do so want a mummy," Marlene laughed as Remus hung his head.

"The two of you together was the one thing I should have tried to bar."

"You know," Lily interrupted, "You don't have to take the time to chase women. There are algorithms for that now."

"Online? That still takes time, Lily." Remus leaned back into the couch and sighed. "And I'm quite happy with my life at the moment."

"Yes," James chimed in, "but you could be happier."

"Not you too," Remus threw his head back into where the couch cushion met the wall. "Look I appreciate the concern and all but really I don't have time right now."

"That's alright," James grabbed his clipboard, "because we've already taken the time."

Remus snapped his head up, "You what?"

"We got on the internet and used all that wizarding math stuff Red talked about and found some women looking for love," Sirius smirked at him.

Remus' eyes got wide but he did pretty well at maintaining a facade of annoyed calm.

"You're wasting your time; I'm not going to go around meeting women that an algorithm thinks I'd be compatible with."

"Oh, come on! Just look at these!" James brandished the clipboard at him.

"It won't hurt to look, Remus." Lily encouraged him, trying her best to keep the laughter from her voice.

"Yeah, Moony," James showed him the first profile Sirius had created. "This lovely brunette is Jessica. She's a secretary who loves playing tennis and watching the stars at night out in the country."

Remus sighed, "I hate tennis, Prongs."

"But she loves watching the stars!" James shoved the clipboard at Remus.

"Show him Samantha's profile," Sirius chimed in. "I liked Samantha."

"Right," James pulled Jessica's profile off the clipboard and revealed Samantha's. "This is Samantha," James showed Remus the picture. "She's a hairdresser who likes to travel, has an affinity for fish and chips, and she has her favorite constellations tattooed on her back."

Remus gave James an exasperated huff. "Is this what these algorithms come up with? That because I'm an astrophysicist that I'm obsessed with people who like how pretty the stars are?"

James shrugged, "I don't do the math. Ok, so no Samantha." He pulled her paper from the clipboard and set it aside. "This is Tiffany. She dies her hair blue apparently," James showed Remus the picture. Remus sighed and hung his head in his hands.

"She's an art teacher and her favorite painting is..."

"Don't tell me," Remus interrupted, "Van Gogh's Starry Night."

"See you were made for each other," Sirius smirked.

Remus groaned.

"Do that last profile," Marlene drawled. "She was my favorite."

"Oh yeah, I liked her," Lily smiled.

"I don't know," Sirius shook his head. "Remus has this thing about women who are too young. That was why he wouldn't pursue anything with Punk-girl."

"It wouldn't hurt to show him," James countered.

"I'm still here," Remus grumbled.

"Alright, alright, but I still think he'll just completely write her off because of the age difference." Sirius pushed Marlene off him and stood, moving to stand near the door.

"Well, let's see," James pulled several pages from his clipboard leaving only the back page.

"She's getting her doctorate in planetary geosciences." Remus coughed. "She loves walking around the London streets. She describes herself as a spitfire. Her favorite food is kebab pizza. When she isn't working on her doctorate she loves spending early mornings watching the sun come up along the coast." James paused and Lily watched as Remus had suddenly gone very rigid and was staring intently down at his trainers.

"Now this is unusual, she prefers to go by her surname."

Remus stood up and practically bolted for the door. "I just remembered, I have something I need to attend to." He pulled the door open and nearly knocked Tonks on her back.

"Hey love, fancy seeing you here." She smirked up at him and Remus stood dumbfounded as he looked down at Tonks and then over at his friends.

"I'm too old for this," he shook his head.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Marlene stood and pulled the couple back inside, Sirius closing the door behind them.

"What gave me away?" Remus shook his head as he took Tonks' hand and led her to the couch.

"You went to watch the sunrise one morning and told me you were opening the observatory." Sirius narrowed his eyes and glared at him. "I brought you coffee and you were nowhere to be found."

Remus groaned. "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing now," Sirius laughed as Marlene pulled him back to the armchair. "The look on your face when you sprinted towards the door was worth far more than three quid."

Remus shook his head, but Lily saw the beginnings of a smile form. "And how long have you been a traitor?" He turned to Tonks.

"Since last week," she kissed his cheek.

"Everyone is against me, even my own girlfriend." Then he laughed. "I haven't had this much fun since sixth form!"

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Tonks poked him.

"Really?" Remus laughed at the look she gave him. "Very well, everyone, this is Dora Tonks, my girlfriend. Dora this is Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Marlene McKinnon."

Tonks patted his hand, "thank you."

There was a knock on the door and James jumped up to get the pizza.

"Let's eat and we can all get to know everyone a bit better." Lily stood to pull the plates down.

James set the pizza down on the table and wrapped his arms around Lily as she set the plates next to the pizza box.

"And later we're going to kick them all out." He whispered in her ear and Lily laughed.

She was looking forward to later, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't just as excited to spend the evening with their group, now finally complete.


	12. Chapter 12

Ten-year-old Harry Potter sat bored as he watched the rain positively pour outside the living room window. He'd be playing video games but the power was out and he really didn't want to play with his sister. She was playing dolls or something else very girly and very childish. He was not going to risk getting caught playing little girl things simply because he was bored to tears.

"Alright there, mate?" His dad sat down next to him on the sofa.

Harry groaned, "I'm bored!" And he threw his head back into the cushions.

James chuckled, "You could play with your sister."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Dad! I'm not playing girly stuff! Just because you'll sit down to a princess tea party doesn't mean I will."

"What about drawing or reading or something else that requires your imagination rather than a power outlet?" James ruffled Harry's hair.

"A story sounds good, would you tell me one?" Harry smiled at the thought of a Marauders story.

"I walked into that one, I did." James laughed. "Alright lad, I'll tell you a story."

Harry grinned and snuggled into the couch.

"When I was much younger," James began as he leaned back into the couch, "I was supposed to meet a woman for dinner. I showed up at the restaurant and when I got there she was nowhere to be found. When I texted her she told me to get the table and that she'd be along shortly. So I told the seating host that my date would be there and I needed a table for two. I waited thirty minutes for a table before I was finally seated, but my date still hadn't made it."

"This doesn't sound like a Marauders story," Harry interrupted.

James chuckled, "You didn't ask for a Marauders story, you just asked for a story."

"Tell me about finding out Uncle Remus and Aunt Tonks were dating instead, this story is boring." Harry pouted.

James shook his head and smiled, "I'm going to tell you this story because it's a good one if you'd listen to it for more than fifteen seconds."

"Ok, ok," Harry huffed and pushed himself back into the sofa cushions.

"Let's see," James mused thoughtfully, "ah, yes, I had waited thirty minutes for a table and my date still wasn't there. I sent another message and she told me she was fifteen minutes away. That seemed like a good sign, so I told the waiter that I wanted to wait to order until my date arrived. He came back every five minutes to see if my date had arrived or if I had changed my mind about waiting to order. We did that back and forth for twenty minutes. Finally, I got a text from my date, and she was at the wrong restaurant, on the other side of town. I asked if she wanted me to go meet her there and she responded to me that she'd rather just spend the evening with her husband than try to find a way to meet me somewhere else."

"Wait!" Harry pushed forward. "You can't go on dates with other people's wives!"

James roared with laughter, "Not such a boring story now, eh?"

"But you can't!" Harry felt strangely betrayed by his dad's actions.

"Well, you can" James held up his hand as Harry went to counter him, "When you're treating your mother to dinner for a late birthday present."

Harry tilted his head, "You were taking Grandma to dinner? She was your date? That's weird, Dad."

"Is it weird when Mum takes you for an ice cream after football practice on occasion?" James ruffled Harry's hair again and Harry attempted to push it back into the style he really wanted it to stay in, even if it never did.

"That's different," Harry wasn't sure how, but it just was. "So did you have dinner by yourself then?" He might as well hear the end of the story.

"No, a beautiful woman with red hair, green eyes, and freckles took pity on me. She waltzed right into the seat across from me, and played as if she were the date that had kept me waiting." James smile lit up his face and his eyes seemed to stare off into space. "She was my hero that night."

Realization began to dawn on little Harry, "Did you just tell me the story of how you met Mum?"

James nodded, "It's a good story." Then he gave Harry a little push. "You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your Grandmother's awful sense of direction, and inability to listen - combined with her stubbornness."

"What did Mum say when you told her she'd got the date because Grandma didn't show up?" Harry jumped at the roll of thunder that rumbled through the house.

"I told your dad that it was a good thing he waited until just before I met Grandma to tell me that."

Harry looked over at his mum walking into the sitting room and smiled.

"But, I just got off the phone with Aunt Marlene and they have power and she invited us to spend the night at theirs. So young man, go tell your sister and pack an overnight bag. We'll drive over once you two are ready to go."

Harry whooped and jumped over the couch before running up the stairs.

Lily laughed at him go before leaning over the couch to kiss her husband.

"I've already packed our things, though if there's anything specific you want you ought to go grab it."

"Thank you," he twisted to be able to kiss her better.

"Mum! Can I bring, oh gross!" Harry yelled as he walked into the room.

"What did you want to bring dear?" Lily sighed.

"I don't remember because you two were being gross. I'll just pack my bag and you can go through it when I'm done." Harry grumbled as he stomped back upstairs.

Lily sighed, "Every time your mother tells me you were worse I simply can't imagine how she handled it."

James stood and walked around to pull Lily into his arms, "He'll be a pain for a few years and slowly he'll start to grow out of it. Look at how I turned out."

"With an enormously large ego?" Lily smirked up at him.

"Among other things," James kissed her neck before they heard the children screaming at each other over who knows what. He groaned and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"Divide and conquer?" Lily chuckled as she ran a hand into his hair.

James nodded as he spoke muffled into her skin, "The sooner we get to Sirius' the sooner it is to bedtime and the sooner we can have each other all to ourselves."

"James, they sleep on the floor in the room with us." Lily pushed him off of her and started for the stairs when James caught her around the waist.

"That's never stopped us before." His eyes bore into hers in a way that still made her knees go weak.

Lily laughed a bit breathlessly. She couldn't deny he was right.


End file.
